Learning to find your own way in this backward world is no easy task. Our indoctrination into this culture and society is different for everyone, of course, but a common principle instilled in us is that certain members of our community are to be revered as credible by virtue of their professional status, age, wealth, or association with certain institutions, government agencies, etc.

This rule is applied at colleges, in business, when dealing with legal matters, and in social circles. We are instilled with a connection between success and trust, and as we come of age we have a natural tendency to automatically trust people of stature without first evaluating or understanding their personal merits, or examining them for signs of genuine virtue.

What we are not often taught, however, is that all people are fallible, few people are virtuous, and that people in respectable positions of leadership or power are just as likely to be as careless or to have hidden agendas as anyone else. Medical professionals, especially those who diagnose and recommend treatments to patients, are in positions of immense power in our society and are endowed with tremendous trust by people seeking remedy for concerning illnesses and ailments.

When I was coming of age and learning how to navigate the sea of life, a handful of critical interactions with highly respectable medical professionals in my community stand out as being pivotal in contributing to the lasting happiness, peace, gratitude and abundant health I enjoy today as a responsible and pharmaceutically non-dependent person.

I achieved the cornerstones of genuine health after nearly destroying myself in a reckless society where the dominant paradigm is to overdo things then seek a quick fix, never prying too deeply into the root causes of what ails us.

It needs to be said that I recognize that doctors are mostly good people, who genuinely have their patient’s best interest in mind, and that not everyone in the medical establishment is as careless as the few doctors that I am going to mention here. Conversely, it needs to be said that there is something terribly wrong with how modern medicine operates today, and that it is clear to many that profit and the prestige of success and wealth are corrupting factors that contribute to carelessness among some of today’s physicians.

Chemical Imbalance

The term ‘attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder’ or ADD/ADHD has become a household term and we have become desensitized to what this actually means in terms of wellness and dependency on the pharmaceutical establishment. Likewise, the terms ‘anxiety,’ ‘depression,’ and ‘bi-polar disorder’ have also become ubiquitous in our lexicon, with little consideration of what effect this has on the quality of our society and the quality of the people in it. We have grown to fully accept that these so-called ‘disorders’ are a fact of modern life, and so many of us can describe their symptoms without even experiencing them, because, after all, the TV and a massive advertising industry constantly alert us to the details and suggested remedies of these and many other modern maladies.

When I was 19, after having completed a decade and a half of compulsory schooling in the public education system, I was talked into pursuing a college degree, with the aim of getting a good job afterward. This was the recommended life path for everyone else it seemed, so I signed up for college and got to work on prerequisites hoping that my career path would reveal itself to me along the way. What I didn’t realize at the time was how bored I was and how sick I had become of a life regimented by the school bell and after school work.

In short order I had difficulty maintaing the stamina required to keep up with the homework, and paying attention in lecture after lecture became unbearable. When my grades began to slip, my family grew worried and my professors issued their standard warnings. Not wanting to sell myself short, or my future, and not wanting to disappoint my family and those who’d supported me, I began looking for answers. After some time I heard about ADD/ADHD, I read a book on the subject and decided that I fit the description therein: lack of concentration, poor attention span for studying, inability to complete coursework, frustration, and so on.

I was optimistic that I’d found the source of my problems with school, and I went to see a psychiatrist, who, after 3 visits, several consultations and tests, sat me in his office to confirm my suspicions that, yes, I had ADD/ADHD. Not a severe type, he said, but enough to warrant pharmaceutical intervention. I had, you see, a chemical imbalance, which was nothing to be ashamed of because a certain percentage of people are just born with it. The solution was easy, painless and quickly effective. Ritalin.

At that time I knew nothing of ritalin so I asked him what it was. He told me it was like speed, the stuff that druggies take, but it was pharmacuetical-grade and pure, and that it wouldn’t affect me the same way that it affected addicts of the illegal version because my brain chemistry was different. It would only make it possible for me to concentrate and perform well… a good thing. I was to take a little at first and over time ramp up the dosage. I am asked him how long I needed it. He said for as long as I was studying or working, inferring that it was there to crutch me for life.

At first it was a rush and I was indeed full of energy and focus. Studying was much easier, and my situation in school improved dramatically, yet over time the side-effects became apparent. I couldn’t ever sleep well, I felt dependent, and most notably it seemed to really change my personality. I became much more quiet and reserved, and felt empty, hollow, as though my spirit or soul had left my body. After 6-8 months I realized I didn’t like the new me, so I quit Ritalin, and set my mind on completing school without it.

After some years during school I again gave in to the stressful circumstances of working and going to school full time and entered a period of depression, anxiety and dramatic mood swings that I was not able to alleviate on my own. Being familiar with psychiatry I saw a different physician and confided in him the details of my troubles and lifestyle. The diagnosis after a single session was that I had bi-polar disorder. The remedy this time: Klonopin.

I took my pills and things seemed to improve, but after time, again, the side-effects became obvious and over-shadowed the original problem. I was dependent on the medication for happiness, and when I took a break from it the original symptoms immediately returned, with a vengeance. Additionally, my personality again changed, to my disliking, and I always felt tired and in a strange dream-like state, as though I was outside of myself and drugged. After sometime I realized this was unsustainable and willed myself to suffer the withdrawals and to move forward without this.

Fast forward a bit now. It took a little longer than some people, but I finished college with a degree from a respectable university, and after much effort landed my dream job. For some time in my new career I happily worked 60-80 hours a week spending life in the office as many people do, forgoing my health to advance in my profession. Yet, after some years I developed severe anxiety and depression, so again, in a moment of personal crisis I turned to my doctor for advice. He saw how distraught I was, and in a single visit sent me home with Xanax to take for my anxiety, Valium to help me sleep, and an anti-depressant/anti-schizophrenic medication, Geodon, to take for the long run. He also recommended I immediately see a psychiatrist and he referred me to one of the most respected psychiatrists in our community.

I asked my doctor at that time if he thought that getting exercise might help and he flatly said no. It might be nice if I took more walks, he said, but I needed the medications first and foremost if I wanted to improve.

The pills immediately helped to sedate me, but 48 hours later I phoned my doctor out of exasperation. The side-effects were already too much. I felt drugged and spaced out, I had chills and uncontrollable shakes, and my brain literally felt like it was turning to mush. To make matters more frightening, a clear liquid was oozing from some of my orifices, gross, and in my alarm I asked him what was happening to me. He told me that the side effects were absolutely normal and that I just needed to follow the regimen, doubling the dosage of the anti-depressant the following week, and making sure not to miss my appointment with the shrink. Over time I would get used to the side-effects, he assured me.

So I went to the shrink. He was an important guy in a busy office, and the signs of his prestige were visible on numerous plaques on the walls. I had an hour with him and upon introducing himself I immediately felt uncomfortable, sensing his arrogance and over-confidence. He asked me to describe my situation and I didn’t feel at all comfortable sharing the intimate details of my life with him in our first visit. So, the time passed in an awkward sort of ping-pong exchange, where I felt defensive, and insisted of telling him about me, I insisted on knowing more about him.

Looking at his office walls, which were covered with Vietnam era photos, plaques and statuettes of military aircraft, I grew more suspicious of him and asked him how much money he made. Without hesitation, and with great pride, he told me that he made $450,000 a year, had his own Cessna airplane, a fine Mercedes Benz, and owned homes in three States and in Mexico.

Somewhat shocked, I pointed to the military regalia on his wall and asked him if fought in Vietnam. Yes, he said, again with great pride, and told me that he was a fighter bomber pilot. Immediately curious I looked him square in the eye and asked him directly, ‘how many people do you think you killed?’ Without flinching and without breaking our locked-on gaze, he replied, ‘thousands… thousands,’ with a long creepy pause in between the words. His reply reminded me of Marlo Brando’s madness in the classic film Apocalypse Now. I gulped and backed off.

To close out the appointment, and without me really giving him any great detail about my situation he confidently prescribed me seven different medications to take every single day until we figured out which worked best he said, then I would take those for life. Wellbutrin, Xanax, Valium, a couple of anti-depressants, Strattera and something to help mitigate the side-effects of all this. I can’t recall exactly what he gave me, but I did notice that he conveniently had samples of each on hand, so I didn’t even need to go directly to the pharmacy.

I paid my bill and left the office with a candy bag filled with pills that rattled with each step. How absurd, I thought, wondering who was crazier, he or I. When I got outside I let out a big sigh and composed myself. I felt violated, but, fantastically I also felt liberated somehow. I dropped the bag of pills in the nearest trashcan and never looked back. This visit officially ended my dependence on modern psychiatry. I was 26 years old.

What’s Candida?

A couple of years later I mysteriously contracted a terrible ear infection, the first I’d had since childhood. I went my physician who prescribed to me, Zithromax, a potent 3-day dosage of antibiotics. I went home and took dose 1 and the next morning woke up with a serious brain fog. The entire day it was as though I was in a cloud, separated from my body, outside of myself, dizzy and confused, tired but restless. Thus began a 2 year battle with what I now believe was Candida poisoning.

After 6 weeks or so of suffering from ceaseless brain fog, terrible insomnia, persistent dizziness, drowsiness and chronic fatigue I went to my doctor, telling him how it started immediately after taking a single dose of the antibiotic. He checked me out thoroughly, and after finding nothing noticeably wrong referred me to a number of specialists. Over the course of the next 6 months, without any relief, I saw blood doctors and neurologists, had CAT Scans and MRI’s, and was even offered a spinal tap. No thanks. I was in great shape, I didn’t have diabetes, tumors or cancer, or meningitis, or any rare disease they could find, and so on a follow up with my general practitioner, he revealed his frustration and recommended I try anti-depressants.

No thanks, there simply had to be another way I told him, and this was the last time I’ve been to see an MD.

True Remedies

These are just my stories of the pivotal events that have pushed me toward the ultimate discovery of abundant health, wellness, and happiness in life. These stories don’t apply to anyone else, although I’ve shared these with many people and similar stories are not at all uncommon.

After my run-ins with psychiatry I was fortunate to discover Shaolin Kung Fu and I put my heart and soul into regular rigorous practice. Within a month or so all of my psychiatric symptoms were totally gone, and I was happier than I’d ever been. I’ve been practicing ever since.

Following my failed attempts to find relief from my enduring episode with brain fog and chronic fatigue, a friend recommended I see a holistic nutritionist who tested my blood for food allergies. The nutritionist recommended I completely avoid yeast, brewer’s yeast and walnuts for a period of no less less than three months, which I adhered to stringently. After 3-4 weeks, the symptoms that had troubled me since taking Zithromax all but disappeared, and after 3 months I resumed a normal diet. Thus began my personal journey to understand more about food and the effects it can have on health.

The symptoms did persist for another year so, however, in much milder forms as I drank only filtered water, ate in moderation, and cut out certain toxins like MSG, Aspartame and refined sugar. One day I met a teacher of Qi Gong who assured me that this ancient Chinese wellness art would help me to further improve. I saw his excellent acupuncturist and began a dedicated Qi Gong practice which lasted for over 2 years. Within a short time of committing myself to the practice my symptoms of Candida poisoning completely vanished.

Conclusion

To this day I am grateful for each of these experiences, for without them I would have never have come to be the person I am. I feel that it is too easy for people to take at face value the advice of doctors and physicians who seem to be as prone to carelessness and callousness as anyone else. Today’s medical industry encourages this in them, I feel. Learning this for myself was a most valuable lesson, and I no longer hold negative opinions of anyone involved here, as I realize that everyone is different and their system simply was not for me.

This story is in no way intended to be medical advice to anyone, and I am fully aware that what doesn’t work for some may very well heal others, as we are all unique. Nor is this an indictment of the modern medical establishment, which has its value. Please only consider this to be the story one man’s journey from unhealthiness to healthiness in a time where many natural, simple, chemical-free cures are available, yet largely under-prescribed in by modern healthcare system. My intention here is not to persuade or convince anyone of the efficacy of natural alternatives, but, once again, only to share a single story for anyone who may be in search of true health, wellness, happiness and independence from pharmaceuticals.

To your health.

About the Author

Dylan Charles is a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a practitioner of Yoga and Taoist esoteric arts, and an activist and idealist passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just world for future generations. He is the editor of WakingTimes.com, the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com, a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the power of inspiring information and action. His remarkable journey of self-transformation is a testament to the power of the will and the persistence of the human spirit. He may be contacted at wakingtimes@gmail.com.

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Next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not fail me
as much as this particular one. I mean, Yes, it was my choice
to read through, however I truly believed you would have something useful to say.
All I hear is a bunch of crying about something you can fix if you weren’t too busy looking for
attention.

[ Smiles ] The pharmaceutical industry is only interested in making large sums of money and not in our health.

PJ London

In high school there were two boys who were model pupils, prefects, sports stars, good-looking, perfect manners and acceptable grades. The problem was that they were as thick as two short planks. I wouldn’t have trusted them to fix a puncture let alone diagnose anything mechanical.
They both went on to become doctors, very successful, wonderful bedside manners (I am sure) a real hit with the mothers and ladies and so very sincere and portentous. The only problem is that they were still as thick as planks.
I am sure that they prescribed according to the (Pharma) book, did all the tests per the manual, and made a lot of money.
I am sure that they had no idea what was wrong in half the cases and just kept prescribing until the illness went away.
“The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease.” (Voltaire)

Annie

Pharmakia – often it is synonimous with evil. Pharmaceutical companies are known for falsifying
research results/data and marketing products known to be damaging to health, even seriously and sometimes fatally (bayer re hiv infected clotting factor to france). Now the Bible tells us in the New Testament to have no part with pharmakia and I think our experiences only go to show the
validity of this interpretation. Now I would say that medicine or surgery is usually very good in
emergency situations and should not be shunned but for many other things diet and exercise along with
a meaningful life experience/job or hobby is probably the best way to stay in overall good shape and good spirits.

To hell with Big Pharma and the medical cartel. All disease is curable, and curable via natural or alternative methods. Take cancer for example. There are at least 400 known ways to control and heal cancer naturally.

John Rockefeller created a booming business in the early 1900’s in Pharmaceuticals with his takeover of the medical schools and the eradication of natural healers. It’s time to take back our health. Be your own doctor or at least your own health advisor.

Most doctors are good. They fix broken bones, remove appendicitis, operate where many times death is the only other answer and they do fix many problems for people giving them a better life.
They do have a downfall and that is they only know what they are taught, are under restraints from liabilities, the gov and insurance companies. In so many ways, their hands are tied and I’m sure many of them are very frustrated as a result.
They won’t admit they don’t know many things and are using us for guinea pigs- trial and error.
We need doctors, but we also need well informed and trained doctors with the ability to explore other possibilities known to cure some illnesses and disease.

the doctor

Consider that if you look outside yourself for others to fix you you will indeed get some suspect advice – the punishment for looking for others to fix you is that the won’t. Looking to institutions for fixing is akin to asking to sun to stop rising.

Start by taking responsibility for EVERYTHING in your life and you will easily find people who are happy to assist and will avoid fixing.

Thanks for your story Dylan! Have you heard of naturopathic physician Dr. Peter Glidden? He has a radio show called, “Fire your MD Now.” His website is FireYourMDNow.com.

He knows exactly what the problem is with MDs and discusses this on his radio show 5 days a week. (He does 2 hrs of radio a day 5 days a week.) We have a powerful medical monopoly all around the world, and MDs are not trained to get you better, they are trained to manage your symptoms with drugs. It is not even a possibility that you can get better; they believe once you’re sick you’re screwed and they need to march in with pharmaceuticals to manipulate your biochemistry.

According to the holistic viewpoint in order to get well one must give the body the raw materials it needs to repair itself and also to avoid foods that are hurting your body–and let the innate intelligence of your body do the rest!

I highly recommend listening to his radio show. And below I am including a link for a webinar he did on Mental Health and Psychiatry; it’s very informative:

Because of my personal experience watching my mother in total helpless confusion for 10 years, this particular aspect of our modern life is one of my obsessions – and I follow Big Pharma. My mother wasn’t the only ‘story’ that touched my life, there were many others – tragic.

This is greed and business in its destructive ruthless worst.
Here is a recent story…

* Soros Fund Management LLC, the family office of billionaire George Soros, boosted its stake in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA), making the Israeli drugmaker its largest holding in the fourth quarter.

The New York-based firm added 5.7 million shares to its stake in Teva during the last three months of 2013, boosting its holding to $373 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 14. Petach Tikva, Israel-based Teva was the fund’s largest increase by market value during the period and represents 4 percent of the $9.2 billion fund, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Teva, the world’s largest maker of generic drugs, has gained 10.3 percent this year… The company has pledged to overhaul its board and cut costs as it faces competition from cheaper generic versions …

I’m 65. A year ago I went to the hospital for swollen feet. They diagnosed me with congestive heart failure and diabetes. After six days in the hospital a team of doctors had failed to tell me anything about my condition. They disqualified me for surgery or stints and sent me home with six medications that made me feel like I was dying. Figuring that if I stopped taking the meds I’d go ahead and die, I quit the meds. Two days later I had regained all my mental acuity, balance and most of my energy. The bill was $42,000. I never did learn what caused my feet to swell. And, I’ll only to see a doctor kicking and screaming or unconscious.

Raven

All I can add to this extremely important article is that I had very similar experiences as Dylan only more horrific, and in 1995 I took the same path to recovery by taking full responsibility for my health. I haven’t been to a doctor since, and today I am a healthy, active and happy 60+ years. Perfect health is possible for everyone, even those who have been told otherwise. Thank you for writing this, spread it far and wide.

dimitri

“thousands… thousands”. It makes you wonder even who you neighbors are. You know. The ones who cheerfully pay taxes and wave the flag on national holidays. The not-so-innocent collaborators.

sunny

That’s kind of lumping a lot of people in a sinister category, isn’t it? Come on, there are a lot of good people out there that just have gotten to the same awareness that we have (thought with that comment….).

peace

sunny

*though

sorry

Linda

Thanks for sharing your story Dylan. Wow. As you say, those experiences led you to the awareness you now have. I never had those experiences – for some reason from a very young age I instinctively distrusted the medical ‘profession’. My father’s influence perhaps – as he never trusted doctors, or any expert for that matter. Right from my teens I felt it was important to educate myself about health and take responsibility for my own health. I studied naturopathy and brought my four kids up without ever taking them to the doctor (well, apart from the odd trip to accident & emergency for broken arms and the like). Oh, and on that, I probably owe my life to modern surgery – as a three year old I had a life-saving tracheotomy. But this is not the side of the medical profession we are talking about here. I never had my children vaccination – just good nutrition, homeopathy for the normal childhood, immune developing illnesses…. Everything I instinctively felt has been, and is continually being shown to be well founded …. and your expozay illuminates this point well. We SO have to inform ourselves. Handing over our health to these people is a recipe for disaster. I do feel that our current medical system is primitive. It is life destroying when it should be life enhancing. I suppose it is all just where we are in our evolutionary trajectory……. Things will change.

Pop

Being a Baby-Boomer I have seen the best in Modern Medicine in my earlier years and, the worst in Modern Medicine in recent years as the author describes. I often think that if a doctor would tell my parents to jump off a tall building they would jump because the doctor “prescribed” it.

Getting people to realize they do not need all these pharmaceuticals to live a happy, healthy life is, however, probably not going to happen. This self-realization process is a journey, a long trail undertaken, I believe, by only the few with strength of character to do it. We can lead people to that trail head but, in the end they must walk that trail themselves.

Here I must say a word as I have been a Gynecological surgeon by love, enthusiasm and choice from 1951 to 1984. Yes! I loved my profession and felt that I could really help people. I did, but starting in the 70s I was seriously harassed by pharmaceutical companies and by laboratories. Some medical representative would come to my office and say: “Doctor, I have noticed from your prescriptions in the pharmacies that you do not prescribe my products! You should!” This means that pharmaceutical companies control in the pharmacies which prescription every doctor makes and come up with menacing impositions. But that is not all. I received “order” to ask for an x-ray pelvimetry for every, I mean “every” pregnant woman. As I did not comply, things started to get hot. This was followed by an “order” to stop doing pregnancy tests in my office, stop doing urinalysis in my office and a strong ‘suggestion’ to ask for a “full” blood work every month for every pregnant woman. As I did not comply things got hotter. Well, conclusion: in 1985 I moved to a different country (Canada) went back to school and got a master in psychology! I am now 88; I do practice Yoga since I was 9 years old, started Tai Chi in the 70s and go kayaking in the summer.
Life is what you make of it!

Thank you for sharing your story. It brings up many of the major issues within the medical system.

I think one of the biggest problems is direct to consumer marketing. The second is we prescribe pills before we prescribe a healthy lifestyle. There also is the biased studies performed by Big Pharma. I think there should be a promotion of alternative medicines and more research should go into it. I think most of the conditions we see today are symptoms of an unbalanced society.

I think we also need an education system that is more intellectually nourishing. We need to be considerate of different ways of learning and different levels; I think tools like the MBTI could help. I also think we should add more room for creativity, more play time (less homework), teach outside the textbook, keep class more active, teach practical knowledge (healthy cooking, real sex-ed, wisdom/ philosophy, critical thinking, free thinking). I think more types of intelligence should be celebrated. Memorization shouldn’t be the primary learning form and should be almost irrelevant by high school. I think that standardized testing should not be considered important. I also think rather than purely quantitative grades teachers should give progress reports highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Classrooms should rarely go above 20. This would likely take at least 10 years to make happen and would require decreasing the “common core” classes. Reading could worked into other classes after elementary school. Math could be decreased as well. I think at the very least there needs to be other public school options to suit different kinds of learning.

I have been around the block with various diagnoses. Despite having a high IQ I struggled quite a bit in school. I never quite lived up to what was expected of me and was constantly being reminded of my unmet potential. First it was ADHD and Asperger’s. I was prescribed Ritalin when I was 10 but I didn’t react well to it, so that didn’t last long. From middle school until my junior year I used tutoring. But then my grades took a dip. This time they changed my labels to PDD-NOS and a “grapho-motor dysfunction” (diagnosed shitty handwriting) and prescribed me Wellbutrin for “executive functioning”. They crossed off the PDD-NOS when they realized I was just socially awkward and a bit offbeat. My grades took a hit again in college. I managed to pull them up just by working harder, but I still struggled. I knew my attention span was an issue, but I didn’t want medication to be my first option. I improved my diet and exercised more. Taking classes in my major helped because I was more interested. My grades still weren’t at an adequate level and I was doing far beyond your average procrastination. I got re-diagnosed with inattentive ADHD and was prescribed Adderall. I did a lot of research beforehand looking at both scientific studies and user experiences. My GPA was an entire grade point higher that semester than in any previous ones. It stayed at the level for for the rest of my education. I take a much lower dose than the average adult and I take breaks from it (to make sure I am not dependent). While I am sure there are some risks, they are very slim at the level I take it. I eat a very healthy diet and exercise everyday. I also work to improve my focus and habits without medication. I am working towards getting to a point where I don’t find it that useful. I personally don’t feel like a zombie with my medication (on or off). It just gives me a boost that helps me stay on track when I do tedious work. It is especially useful for staying reasonably organized and doing chores.

The hard thing with mental “disorders” is they aren’t as easy to diagnose as physical problems. It is easy to diagnose someone with anemia, broken bones, poor eyesight or other common conditions. It is much less obvious with the brain. I think because we can’t necessarily see it and a lot of the issues overlap with symptoms (at least externally) and are partially environmental, some people like to pretend they are made up. Could you imagine telling a person with poor eyesight to just “look harder” and train your eyes? You might be able to function better, but glasses would probably be useful. Of course it is different when drugs are involved. I think we just need to take a more cautious approach with medication (especially with children), consider lifestyle factors and not diagnose off of a checklist of symptoms.

Pavlov’sBitch

No-one hardly dies a natural death; most are murdered by the medical mafia. It is a military operation and we are the target enemies as with everything else under the psychopathic corporatocracy. Will parents every come to their senses and protect their young from the claws of these snipers armed with needles and pills?

Faye

Now I don’t recommend that any reader follow what I’ve done, we must all find our way .. high BP is an enemy of every organ in the body and can kill. I consider that’s why our foods have purposely been targeted with high levels of sodium and other harmful chemicals

Having gone in to see a Dr. I told the nurse that my blood pressure would be high because I had to stop taking what was no-doubt bad formulated meds due to the fact that for two days, after taking the meds of a new refill my blood pressure shot up to 237/132 …

As expected when the nurse took my pressure, numbers were near levels I had been experiencing … when nurse returned she told me that no doctor would see me with such high levels of blood pressure … I was told to go to the hospital.

Now remembering several years back when I was sent to the hospital for the same problem with bad formulated meds elevating my blood pressure; it was after 10 tortuous days of no relief of pressure and meds I was given had continuously offset series of very rapid hear rate ..

Nevertheless I was released by an broad statue upper-tier-level of a physician, who so boldly told me that I could report him to the hospital if I wanted to, but that he didn’t work for the hospital, and if I returned, he’d be waiting for me .

Afterwards I’ve since been told by another upper-tier-level physician at another hospital that they did not treat high blood pressure, and was again released with dangerously elevated BP …

I’ve run from doctor to doctor, used pharmacy after pharmacy, even used maiden names and a previous married name, I’ve paid hundreds of dollars hoping to get a better grade of meds than Medicaid would allow .. all in hopes to get and stay ahead of these harmfully formulated meds that proved to follow me no matter where I’d go or what I’d do.

Good meds would do pretty well with lowering pressure but hands feet and legs would swell terribly so .. yet the harmful meds were worst and had caught up with me once again at yet another completely different Pharmacy.

So thoroughly convinced that there is a diabolical and sinister plan working against me from behind the veil, with some very high-seaters targeting and instigating my relentless attack with bad meds .. I decided to stop taking the meds all together and work that much harder to follow an extremely low-salt diet and a watchful diet so I can also loose weight .

11 days into the diet, even though pressure was still up and down, it was not as high, and all swelling was gone, and I didn’t feel as bad, as when taking the meds. Though I had taken BP meds for over 30 yrs, in time, in faith, in hope, I believe my blood pressure will balance out.

Now nearly two months later, I’m loosing weight and feeling better .. blood pressure still spikes when eating even some vegetables .. I really think the chemicals in our foods has something to do with that .. but I’m determine to live without the meds .. or meet my maker trying … this is a sinfully cruel world ..

Pavlov’sBitch

Thanks for mentioning that blood pressure meds causes swelling of hands and feet. Here in UK, I learned that all (especialy elderly and BP) patients admitted for whatever procedure or complaint are automatically given Warfarin type of drugs. When a relative was admitted for breathing difficulties, the swelling became severe but they would not admit that this was down to the blood-thinning agents but they were the only unecessary addition to the meds.

Faced with declining prescription drug sales in the U.S., and having lost patent protection for many profitable drugs, the drug industry is relying increasingly in new markets such as China and other fast developing countries, such as those in Africa. That expansion, however, is oftentimes tainted by unsavory commercial practices.

The Economist Intelligence Unit estimates in $166 billion drug sales by 2017 in China, making of this country a natural market for companies looking for further growth. In Africa, although the size of the market is still small, the rapid growth of many big cities offers interesting opportunities for development. Pharmaceutical spending in Africa may reach $30 billion by 2016, from approximately $18 billion now. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,) Africa has 11 percent of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 24 percent of the global disease burden.

***

In China, relationships between doctors and patients are under stress. One of the reasons is the unethical relations between many doctors and several drug companies. Although the practice of bribing doctors is not new in China, new allegations have surfaced recently against some well known drug companies that demand new and more effective measures against this practice. According to some estimates, up to 30 percent of the cost of drugs is kicked back to doctors to increase sales.

There are several ways in which doctors are bribed by drug companies: they go from making cash payments and all-expenses-paid trips, to presents for their families and even “sexual favors.” Drug companies also bribe hospitals to stock their drugs so that doctors can prescribe them.

***

In Africa, drug companies have been accused of testing dangerous drugs in children or conducting drug tests without obtaining informed consent. In Nigeria, a panel of medical experts accused Pfizer Inc. of having violated international law during a 1996 meningitis epidemic by testing an unapproved drug for use in children. According to Nigerian officials, Pfizer’s illegal actions killed 11 children and left dozens of children disabled.

“I dropped the bag of pills in the nearest trashcan and never looked back.”

Great decision and great article! I can still name the long list of prescription pills that destroyed my mother, a once intelligent and beautiful woman who spent the last 10 years of her life in a helpless zombie-like pitiful state. So I am in complete agreement and share a total rejection of man-made meds. Thank God you stopped when you did, showing your innate strength of mind and will.